Careers & Internships

Career Opportunities

Bioinformatics majors will have extensive career opportunities in the biotechnology, health-care and pharmaceutical industries, in government and at universities. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics named "bioinformatics specialist" as one of the top 30 new and emerging occupations. Because of the relatively small number of qualified applicants for hundreds of new job openings, applicants for even entry-level positions are commanding very competitive salaries.

Undergraduate bioinformatics majors often choose to pursue advanced degrees in bioinformatics, computational biology, computer science, genetics, molecular biosciences, and clinical sciences. Graduate degree programs are well-funded, and nearly all enrolled students are awarded full fellowships covering tuition and living expenses. Recent graduates are now pursuing advanced degrees at Harvard University, Duke University, Princeton University, Johns Hopkins University, The University of Michigan, Brown University, The Mayo Clinic Graduate School, The University of North Carolina, The University of Texas, The University of Illinois, and others.

Summer Internship Opportunities

There are countless summer internship programs, most with compensation or stipends for students studying Bioinformatics (or Biology, Biochemistry, Computer Science, and Statistics). Sponsoring organizations include universities, small and large companies, and national research labs. Loyola Bioinformatics majors have been especially successful in competing for prestigious National Science Foundation summer research fellowships at universities across the country. The sites for internships and fellowships change frequently. The web sites below maintain updated lists of these opportunities. Alternatively, Google searches with terms like bioinformatics + summer + intern or fellow will retrieve additional programs.